Towards the 1st Khanh Hoa Provincial Party Congress, term 2025 - 2030: New look in ethnic minority and mountainous areas

Coming to the ethnic minority and mountainous areas in the province, we felt the new vitality in the highland villages. That momentum comes from the province's timely and effective implementation of the National Target Program (NTP) on socio-economic development (SEDP) in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, phase I (2021 - 2025). This is an important premise for the province to promote the strength of the great national unity bloc, firmly step forward in the decade of raising the level of development, towards the goal of making Khanh Hoa a centrally-run city by 2030 - where people have a high standard of living, are peaceful and happy.

A corner of Phuoc Ha commune.

Development motivation

Recently, we had the opportunity to visit Tra No village (Phuoc Ha commune), an arid area in the south of the province. Visiting the family of Mr. Ta Yen Pho - a Raglai household in the locality, he said: “My family has 2 hectares of fruit trees, including mango, jackfruit, grapefruit, coconut... Previously, there were many difficulties in irrigation water. In 2023, from the capital of the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas, my family was supported with 17 million VND, plus the accumulated money to invest in a system to bring irrigation water to the garden; at the same time, digging a pond to store water and installing a water-saving irrigation system. I was also instructed and supported in techniques for caring for fruit trees... Currently, some types of fruit trees have begun to yield a harvest of nearly 40 million VND/year; when mangoes and grapefruits are ready for harvest, the income will be higher”.

Durian has helped ethnic minority households in Tay Khanh Son commune escape poverty.

In Tay Khanh Son commune, we visited and witnessed the joy of some local ethnic minority households who have risen above poverty sustainably thanks to the support from the National Target Program for Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas. It can be seen that the program has had a great impact on the economic life and income of local people, changing the face of Tay Khanh Son mountainous commune; especially the social infrastructure, technical infrastructure, and economic infrastructure have been invested in quite synchronously, meeting the requirements of rural mountainous modernization. Up to now, 100% of the roads to the commune center, villages and roads to the main production areas of the commune have been concreted; there are spacious medical stations and 100% of people participate in health insurance, 100% of households have access to the national grid, 100% of villages have community houses. The locality also completed the progress of the Program to eliminate temporary and dilapidated houses ahead of schedule. People's material and spiritual life is increasingly improved, the poverty rate is decreasing rapidly, the multidimensional poverty rate in the area is now only 31.36%.

Comrade Chamaléa Thi Thuy - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Director of the Department of Ethnic Minorities and Religions expressed: “In the period of 2021 - 2025, together with the resources of the Central Government, Khanh Hoa and Ninh Thuan provinces (before the merger) have prioritized resources, with a total capital of more than 1,940 billion VND to implement the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minorities and Mountainous Areas Phase I, thereby investing in comprehensive development of ethnic minority and mountainous areas, changing the awareness of the majority of people, from waiting and relying on State investment to being proactive, making efforts to improve their lives, the income of ethnic minority households has also been improved. The results achieved in ethnic work, implementing ethnic policies in localities in ethnic minority and mountainous areas in recent times have consolidated and promoted the strength of the great solidarity bloc of ethnic groups, contributing to the cause of construction, development and comprehensive development of Khanh Hoa province".

Continued investment in ethnic minority and mountainous areas

We are happy with the changes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas, but we also need to frankly acknowledge that the gap in income and wealth between ethnic minority and mountainous areas and the plains is still quite large. Currently, the province has 36 ethnic minorities living, with a population of more than 246,000 people, accounting for 11.75% of the population. According to Decision No. 861 of the Prime Minister approving the list of communes in Region III, Region II, Region I in ethnic minority and mountainous areas for the period 2021 - 2025, up to now, the whole province has 56 communes in ethnic minority and mountainous areas (including 35 communes in Region III, 6 communes in Region II, 15 communes in Region I) and 137 extremely disadvantaged villages. In the decade of development, the province strives to make Khanh Hoa a centrally-governed city by 2030, a livable city where people have a high standard of living, are peaceful and happy. In this situation, the province needs to continue to propose policies that are close to and appropriate to the actual situation, in line with the aspirations of ethnic minorities and mountainous areas throughout the province.

Ethnic minorities in Phuoc Ha commune are resettled in the resettlement area.

Some opinions say that, to bring the mountainous areas to catch up with the lowlands, increasing income, improving life, and sustainably reducing poverty for ethnic minorities is a prerequisite. To do so, it is necessary to have support policies on land, taxes, credit capital, investment support, production, development of production according to the value chain, creating livelihoods, jobs, increasing income for people and creating momentum for rapid and sustainable socio-economic development for ethnic minority and mountainous areas. The province needs to prioritize allocating resources to stabilize residential areas; support the development of effective production models to contribute to improving life, increasing income, in accordance with the living and production habits of ethnic minorities. In addition, it is necessary to prioritize investment in key projects to create momentum to promote socio-economic development in ethnic minority and mountainous areas...

According to comrade Nguyen Long Bien - Member of the Provincial Party Standing Committee, Vice Chairman of the Provincial People's Committee, in order to organize the implementation of the National Target Program on Socio-Economic Development in Ethnic Minority and Mountainous Areas for the period 2026 - 2030 in a unified and synchronous manner, maximize resources and contribute to the completion of socio-economic development goals and targets, improve the material and spiritual life of the people in the new situation, the province has proposed the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions to advise the National Assembly, the Government, and the Prime Minister to assign the state budget estimates in the direction of allowing localities to proactively transfer career capital between sub-projects and component projects of the program in accordance with the actual needs of the locality, ensuring the most effective implementation of the program. The province also recommended that the Ministry of Ethnic Minorities and Religions promptly approve and assign the capital plan for the 2026-2030 period to localities right from the beginning of the period to have time to proactively implement the program's contents and disburse capital to ensure the set progress.

HAI LANG - MA PHUONG

Source: https://baokhanhhoa.vn/kinh-te/202508/huong-toi-dai-hoi-dai-bieu-dang-bo-tinh-khanh-hoa-lan-thu-i-nhiem-ky-2025-2030-dien-mao-moi-o-vung-dong-bao-dan-toc-thieu-so-va-mien-nui-ebc7465/